Graduation in an age of innovation — and uncertainty

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Kim Richards

June 10, 2018 – By DEBORAH SULLIVAN BRENNAN – The first class of high school students born and raised in the New Millennium is graduating this month, eager to gain footing in a world in which they have surfed a tsunami of technological change, from the rise of social media to the sequencing of the human genome.

They’re expert gamers, savvy about the Internet and switch fluidly from one digital device to the next — skills some say give them the upper hand, but others argue have delayed their coming of age.

Outspoken and public-minded, entrepreneurial and egalitarian, these students grew up in an era of social transformation and digital connection.

As they don caps and gowns this month, these graduates will step into adulthood, cellphones in hand and global goals in mind.

“A lot of people look at us and say we’re lazy and we feel entitled to things,” said Taurus Samuels, 18, who is graduating from Vista High School and will attend Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on a basketball scholarship. “I don’t believe that. … We don’t just set goals, but we have a plan to reach them. We’re very driven, unique and creative in the way we handle problems.”